Bear Creek sewer rates going up

Bear Creek Township board members moved the rates paid by the township's sanitary sewer users upward Wednesday, with customers likely to see the change in their bills this spring.

The flat sewer rate paid quarterly by residential customers will increase by about 8 percent, from $99.50 to $107.40. Commercial customers' sewer treatment fee will rise from $4.52 per 1,000 gallons of wastewater to $5.80 per 1,000 gallons - an increase of 28 percent.

Board members approved the rate changes by a 5-0 vote during their regular meeting. The new sewer fees take effect this month, and will be reflected on the quarterly bills issued to customers in April.

In the past several months, township officials had worked with Traverse City consulting firm Gosling Czubak to review sewer budgetary issues.

Advertisement

Bear Creek supervisor Dennis Keiser said the township has faced a variety of cost increases related to waste disposal recently.

Financing for recent capacity upgrades at Petoskey's wastewater treatment plant - in which Bear Creek owns a 16 percent stake - and increasing expenses to make sewage treatment comply with changing environmental regulations are among them, he added.

Sewer operations cost the township $550,000 in 2001, with an expense of $769,000 estimated for 2003.

"We need to adjust the rates," Keiser said.

In other business Wednesday, the board reversed a November decision concerning the format for this year's rubbish cleanup. Members now plan to offer residents the same type of curbside waste collection this spring as in years past.

Facing increased costs for the curbside rubbish collection offered to residents each spring, the board had decided two months ago to switch to a new program offered by Emmet County's Department of Public Works.

In it, Bear Creek would have purchased vouchers allowing residents to drop off non-garbage wastes at the county's Little Traverse Township transfer station.

With the vouchers, residents could have disposed of up to two cubic yards of non-garbage waste for the year. They would need to make their own arrangements for carrying the waste to the transfer station.

Keiser noted a couple of challenges that the township could face with the new program this year.

For one, he said township computers currently don't have the capacity to support a database for keeping track of voucher use. In addition, an expansion project that will allow the transfer station to accept a wider range of waste won't be complete as early this year as was expected.

"I've talked to quite a few people who just don't want to see a spring cleanup stop," he added.

Board members voted 4-1 to hold a curbside cleanup the first week in May. Trustee Todd Flynn cast the vote against it.

"People should be responsible for their own waste," he said. "You're still paying for it - and it's less efficient - if the township does it for you."

Township clerk Judy Mays took a differing view.

"Originally, we started the cleanup to keep the township looking good," she said. "It is convenient for those who use it. Basically, it's a return on their taxes."

The board will decide in the coming months whether to keep the five-cubic-yard limit for residents' waste disposal or modify it for this year. If the limit is maintained, township officials estimate a cost of $60,000 for the cleanup.

The $50 per cubic yard disposal fee which Bear Creek expects to incur is about 50 percent higher than the expense the township faced in 2000, Keiser said.

Bear Creek will contract with Top Rank Disposal of Charlevoix and Mogford Auto Parts of Littlefield Township for waste hauling and disposal, along with a yet-to-be-determined contractor to handle brush disposal.